Swimming pool users have found they can increase the enjoyment and safety of pools by adding devices which provide shade, sports, game playing, and depth indicating equipment. Generally such devices have been installed using bases mounted to the pool deck with fasteners such as the anchor bolts described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,629. Another method, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,926, involves mooring brackets fastened to the coping on the pool or the ground beside the coping. Still another, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,641 utilizes a removable clamp bracket for supporting an object from an elongated channel member which has spaced grooves formed in one surface. The clamp bracket may be positioned at any point along the length of the channel member, but is limited to this path.
Other, heavily weighted and bulky bases for holding sports objects like basketball backboards and volleyball nets usually have to be used just outside the pool proper because of their large size, but with the hope that the balls thrown at them somehow return to the swimming pool from which they were launched.
All of the above methods have undesirable consequences. Drilling of holes in pools for fastener mounting is damaging and invasive and limits the locations for placing shade and recreational equipment. Supporting objects from elongated channel members is also location limiting. While the use of heavily weighted and bulky bases can keep sports activities out of the pool water, where it is desired. These described methods are also relatively expensive.
The use of suction cups has been available for many years. A typical use involves a plastic suction cup with a hook attached to the center of its non-suction side for attachment to a glass window for hanging a transparent decorative item or for sticking onto the tile in a bathroom for holding a squeegee. More recently, however, suction cup devices have become more sophisticated and powerful. Representative suction cup devices used as a means for supporting articles are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,844,395 and 5,996,951. The '395 patent discloses the support of garments in a show window and the '951 article shows a use for holding a horizontal drying rack.